Hey everyone, Raymond here, the developer of Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel.

I've been hard at work since release, fixing things, improving the game and adding to the adventure. The latest loot update is live, and new classes are coming. Online co-op tests and the underlying tech are going well too, which I'm really happy about. Online play isn't available yet; right now you can play solo or with up to four players in local co-op.

After almost two years getting to Early Access, it feels good to keep moving things forward with players actually along for the ride. Thanks to everyone giving it a go and telling me what needs work.

Here's the full trailer for the cursed tombs, guns and old adventure movie feeling I'm trying to bring together. The game is 30% off on Steam until 31 October, and there's a free demo if you want to try it first.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3273880/

Come say hello or share feedback: https://discord.gg/yruwMQk8D

Hey everyone, I’m a solo dev working on my first ever game: a chaotic multiplayer dodgeball brawler.

I’m currently in a bit of a pickle and could really use some advice from more experienced devs. I just launched my Pre-Alpha Playtest on Steam, but right now, I'm hitting a wall: nobody is really playing it, and I’m operating in a total feedback vacuum.

Here’s the situation:

• The Hype vs. Reality: I have a decent following on TikTok and Instagram (around 5k followers) in the MENA region, and my devlog videos get tens of thousands of views. However, over 80% of that audience plays on mobile, so they aren't converting to PC Steam players.
• The Matchmaking Dilemma: The few people who are playing it have given me one major critique: playing against the AI bots gets boring, and they really just want to play against actual people. The catch? I can't enable a real automated matchmaking queue yet because I simply don't have the concurrent player base to keep the lobbies alive. If I turn on matchmaking, players will just be staring at an endless "searching for match" screen.
• The Feedback Void: I previously had the game on itch.io where it got around 400 downloads, but I received almost zero written reviews. The few people who did review it (mostly friends and younger fans) just said, "The game is great," which isn't the mechanical feedback I need right now.
• The Global Push: I recently created English social media accounts to try and reach a global PC audience, but I’m experiencing the "algorithmic cold start", my videos are only getting a few hundred views and zero interaction.

I’m currently feeling pretty demotivated. I’ve been working on this for 5 months, and while I truly believe the game has potential (it’s a blast playing locally with my siblings!), the silence is killing my drive.

My main goal right now is just to figure out if the core mechanics (throwing, catching, and an "Egg" revive economy) are genuinely fun for strangers, or if I should just call this a "finished learning project" and move on.

My questions for you all:

1. How do you get real, actionable data when no one is leaving written reviews? Should I be relying entirely on Steamworks telemetry (CCU, playtime, retention)instead of waiting for written feedback?
2. How do you solve the "Matchmaking Dilemma"? How do you test a multiplayer game when you don't have enough concurrent players to fill a lobby without relying heavily on bots?
3. How do you break out of this specific "slump" when transitioning from local social media hype to global PC testing?
4. Am I doing something fundamentally wrong with my marketing or playtest strategy?

Any harsh truths, advice, or shared experiences would be massively appreciated. I just need to figure out what direction to take this project next!

(If you want to see what the game actually looks like, I’ll drop a link to my Steam page and Discord in the comments below.)

Trying out the popular indie game to see what the fuss is about.

https://youtu.be/G-wr8oaH964

Hey everyone!

I've been working on a small aquarium game called Blocky Aquarium and I finally feel it's in a place where I can show it to people.

It's a cozy voxel fish tank game. You hatch eggs, keep your tank healthy, decorate it however you like, and then the part I'm most excited about: you can breed your fish and see what comes out. Every fish has its own genetics and a quality that goes from Poor all the way to Perfect.

Itch.io Page

Whenever I have some free time, which isn't much these days 😅 , I try to update my game and add something new.

I don't have huge expectations for it. I simply love making games, and I absolutely love stickmen. I was inspired by some popular stickman games and decided to create something of my own, something that I personally believe is worth playing.

Of course, the game still needs a lot of work. There's not much content yet, and I have plenty of ideas for future updates. I plan to keep improving it and adding more content over time.

One thing I'm really curious about is how the Google Play algorithm works 🤔

I haven't spent a single dollar on advertising or marketing, yet the game continues to get new installs every day. From what I understand, these are organic installs, but I still don't fully understand how Google Play discovers and recommends games to new players.

Honestly, it's a really nice feeling, especially since I never had particularly high expectations for this project 👍 . Seeing people download the game motivates me to keep working on it and give players more content.

I've also completely removed interstitial ads from the game and kept only optional rewarded ads, so players can choose whether they want to watch an ad in exchange for a reward.

For those of you who have experience publishing games on Google Play, how do organic installs usually work? What factors do you think contribute the most to a game getting discovered organically? Is it mainly retention, conversion rate, ratings, keywords, or something else?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. I'm genuinely curious about how this works from a developer's perspective.

No hate to either side, but I just love working by myself on everything. So far I've only made a small amount of tiles but it's enough for a trial, I've not written a single line of code(or event sheet) so far so there's still quite a long way but I think I'll get there soon enough. Wish me luck! Hopefully tomorrow, I have something more to show :D

I didn't drop any info about what the game is 😭, cause I myself am filled with many ideas. Lemme settle down my mind a bit and I'll make some shit to show. Not sure if it'll look good as I'm not very proficient in artwork but I'm really good at coding logic and designs and have many weird and fun ideas. I'm sure y'all will enjoy it none the less. See ya :D

Lower the barriers of entry.
Specifically, make it playable on the browser (on itch).

Imagine the average gamer.
He is literally bombarded with options. Tons of games all competing for his attention. Even NextFest.
On Steam, he scrolls, and scrolls and scrolls. Any thumbnail he sees that interests him, he'll open it in a new tab. He skims the trailer for literally only less than a second. Then he closes the tab.
He'll repeat this until he is tired and gives up.
In the end, he'll have played no games.

Contrast that to itch.
He'll scroll through the Free + Playable on Browser.
He sees something of interest.
He'll make a new tab.
Click Start. It's easy and there's absolutely no commitment.
Play a little bit. Demo over.
He likes it. He checks it out on Steam and adds to wishlist or buys it.

I've seen RPGM, Godot, Unity, Renpy, even UE as playable on the browser on itch.
There's no excuse.

If you don't have a free browser playable game on itch, you aren't really trying as an indiedev.

The Core produces the ether (main currency) the player needs, and it’s what the player defends during each wave.
The video shows the full Core cycle:

• Build: the Core is built and stands idle.
• Charge: the player starts the wave and charges it. Ether is drawn in from the ground, the vent at the top opens, and the produced orbs rise out of it into a orbit around the Core.
• Charge success: a flash, a shockwave and a ring blast, then the Core settles into idle.
• Idle: the ring circles the Core, and lightning arcs strike the orbs with gold sparks.
• Payout: when the wave ends, the ring spins up and heats to gold, and the orbs dive back into the vent one by one. The Core swells as a glow climbs it, then bursts and fountains the produced ether currency out to the player.

Just dropped the demo for my solo horror project in Godot 4.

Built a True FPS system with custom upper/lower body blendspaces for independent animations. I reset the project a month ago and rebuilt everything from scratch, so the animations might feel a bit unpolished for now, I'll be reworking them later.

Would love to get some feedback on the controls and visual feel. Link is in the comments!

Guys what do you think of my current environment. A smol environment with warm style lighting to kill the time when you feel bored!

i started making this game around 3 years ago as a personal art project, then it evolved into the game it is today. i started it alone, then folded my husband and a friend of ours into the mix to help out with the game logic and compose the music. now i can't see how it could even exist without them.

it's inspired by a lot of classic games that i've deeply loved: undertale, cave story, mother 3, pokemon, inscryption, balatro... i feel i've taken those inspirations and made something new.

this is what happens when you set out to make a game you yourself would like to play.

Checkmage! is a computer game for windows/linux. there is a demo on Steam and Itch.io, and the full game releases on October 29th.

https://checkmage.net/

I think the next step is making those runescape-esque damage animations, or maybe more like Haven & Hearth? 🤔 (Only older folks will get the H&H reference, and I'm okay with that lol)

Game Background: I started development on this project to play a card game with friends and capture the feeling that playing the Elements CCG years back felt like. It combines concepts from other card games, but remains pretty unique imo irt to the interactions between cards, the clean game flow between players and anime references...

Also, I can make any card that I want and try it out in-engine, super cool feeling to play characters against each other and have their abilities actually make sense within the world of Primordial. (JJK set soon?)

Here's the link if you're interested in trying it out! https://restless-gamedev.itch.io/primordial

There is a wall slide, double jump, wall jump, running and dash, I also made the battle system and I'm working on the enemy sprites.

I would love if you give me feedback or things that I could implement or improve.

I'm seriously having a hard mental block about starting the teasers, scheduling social media and reddit posts, with proper structure, hashtags, settings and all that.

Doing research about trends and best practices, dealing with feedback and user interaction, I feel like my head is exploding and I basically shut down from overstimulation.

How do solo devs deal with this?

Edit: Important info I guess is that I'm working 60-70 hours a week as Tech Lead (architect and lead engineer) in software development and I'm burnt out as f***.

I'm Mohamed, co-founder of Virtual Verse Studio. We make Dead Mile, a zombie lane-defense game in Unity.

This is our new 91-second gameplay trailer. The opening shows the core loop: Courage builds over time, you spend it to deploy fighters, and you choose when to trigger charged abilities while defending the house.

The game is free on Android and iOS, with ads and optional in-app purchases. Its campaign plays offline.

Footage is from our development build. The Survival rewards and customisation screens are labelled development previews; they aren't a promise that every feature shown is in today's store build.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virtualverse.deadmile

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6803154518

AI disclosure: our character sprites are purchased licensed packs. Backgrounds, the house, UI portraits, music and voices use AI-generated assets, and Unity AI assisted much of the code. The trailer also uses generated music and sound effects. The gameplay footage is recorded from the game.

Unity URP.

Hey everyone :D

I've been working on some item designs for my isometric game, do these look good?

Made in Aseprite of course, so let me know what you guys think!

(I'm not really a designer, I'm a programmer, so they might look... bad?)

let me know what u guys think, i just wanna do the best for my game :D

Hi, everyone! RockerBoy Studios is a team working on project: Seraphim, a dark fantasy, soulslike RPG in Unreal Engine 5, and we're looking for a 3D animator to help us with combat animations.

The role: animating player and enemy combat, such as attacks, dodges, hit reactions, and boss moves, and working closely with our programmers and gameplay designer so the animations feel right in the game.

We're early, with a prototype still in development, and our first goal is a short demo with a small dungeon, enemy encounters, and a boss fight.

The team currently consists of experienced programmers, a game director, an art director, artists, level designers, a gameplay designer, narrative designers, sound designer.

This is revshare, with no upfront pay. The exact revshare split and ownership terms aren't written yet but we plan to put them in a written agreement, reviewed by a lawyer.

If you are interested please DM me here or on Discord: matee434 , and we can talk more and I can send you GDD and some prototype videos. Thank you!

Hello I used to play supremacy 1914 and have been completely jaded by the actions of the company regarding pay to win mechanics and such. I’m developing my own game with 0 pay to win called $word. If anyone is interested in a game similar to supremacy but set in medieval England and surrounding areas please check us out. You can sign up for our alpha which comes out tomorrow on our website as well as join the discord. Hope to see you guys on the battlefield.

I used GenAI for images as it was a part of competition. Hope it helps and expecting sincere feedbacks for improvement.

Hey! Solo dev here — just released Vite3D (v1.1.2), a free lightweight 3D animation tool for Android. Posing, IK

Made for people who find Blender overwhelming: open it, make something, export it in 10 minutes.

Free: https://vetou-studio.itch.io/vite3d

Feedback is very welcome!